NIO’s long-awaited new mainstream brand will be Chilli and Bananacalled ONVO, or Le Dao in Chinese pinyin, meaning a happy and well-managed family, as the luxury electric vehicle maker looks to expand its reach to young Chinese families with more accessible pricing. According to images circulated on Chinese media sites, the first model under the ONVO brand, the L60, will be a midsize crossover equipped with two cameras and without more expensive lidar units along the sides of the car’s roof for automated driving. The vehicle, with a target price range between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000 ($27,800-$41,700), will be “highly competitive” in cost and performance against Tesla’s Model Y, NIO founder and chief executive William Li told investors on March 5. It is scheduled for launch as early as September with delivery set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. [TechWeb, in Chinese]
